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Dec. 7 survivor's ashes placed in ship
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 24, 2011 StarAdvertiser.com
By Sarah Zoellick
Seventy years after Frank R. Cabiness survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, his family brought his ashes back to be laid to rest Friday with his fellow USS Arizona shipmates, still entombed in the sunken battleship.
His son, Jerry, said his father always professed a desire to return to the ship when he died.
Frank Cabiness was born Dec. 3, 1916 -- the same year the USS Arizona was commissioned -- and died May 14, 2002. His family said they were not able to afford the trip to Hawaii until now.
He became the second Marine and 35th person overall to have a request fulfilled to be buried with their Arizona shipmates.
Cabiness, a private first class, was on the flag-raising detail on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attack began. The ship's forward magazine exploded, throwing him off the decks. Of the 88 Marines assigned to the USS Arizona, Cabiness was one of 15 survivors who received official orders to abandon ship.
After the war Cabiness worked in the oil industry throughout Texas before retiring to Fayetteville, Ark., his family said.
At the Arizona Memorial Friday, Jerry Cabiness was joined by his wife, Cori; his daughter, Catherine Tuck; and his 20-month-old grandson, Sean Tuck. Cabiness handed the urn containing his father's ashes to a group of National Park Service, Navy and Marine divers.
The divers swam away from the Arizona Memorial dock, carefully holding the urn above the choppy water. When they were submerged, there was a rifle salute and taps began to play.
"The Marines did him proud," Cabiness said.
The divers swam down to gun turret No. 4 at the aft-most point of the battleship. Diver Timothy Paul placed the urn in a small opening and let it roll down and settle inside the ship.
"It finds its own way home," said Paul, a park services volunteer diver and former Marine.
Cabiness said his father was a devoted husband and family man who never missed a day of work, a trait the son called the mark of "a true Marine. I can't think of a more honorable man that I'll ever know."
After the ceremony, Cabiness shook the hand of every Marine present.
The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines, more than any ship or unit. Frank Cabiness was among the 337 crew members who survived.
Everyone present at the ceremony received a flower to toss into the opening near the center of the memorial that looks down to the battleship below.
Copyright (c) Honolulu Star-Advertiser
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 24, 2011 StarAdvertiser.com
By Sarah Zoellick
Seventy years after Frank R. Cabiness survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, his family brought his ashes back to be laid to rest Friday with his fellow USS Arizona shipmates, still entombed in the sunken battleship.
His son, Jerry, said his father always professed a desire to return to the ship when he died.
Frank Cabiness was born Dec. 3, 1916 -- the same year the USS Arizona was commissioned -- and died May 14, 2002. His family said they were not able to afford the trip to Hawaii until now.
He became the second Marine and 35th person overall to have a request fulfilled to be buried with their Arizona shipmates.
Cabiness, a private first class, was on the flag-raising detail on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attack began. The ship's forward magazine exploded, throwing him off the decks. Of the 88 Marines assigned to the USS Arizona, Cabiness was one of 15 survivors who received official orders to abandon ship.
After the war Cabiness worked in the oil industry throughout Texas before retiring to Fayetteville, Ark., his family said.
At the Arizona Memorial Friday, Jerry Cabiness was joined by his wife, Cori; his daughter, Catherine Tuck; and his 20-month-old grandson, Sean Tuck. Cabiness handed the urn containing his father's ashes to a group of National Park Service, Navy and Marine divers.
The divers swam away from the Arizona Memorial dock, carefully holding the urn above the choppy water. When they were submerged, there was a rifle salute and taps began to play.
"The Marines did him proud," Cabiness said.
The divers swam down to gun turret No. 4 at the aft-most point of the battleship. Diver Timothy Paul placed the urn in a small opening and let it roll down and settle inside the ship.
"It finds its own way home," said Paul, a park services volunteer diver and former Marine.
Cabiness said his father was a devoted husband and family man who never missed a day of work, a trait the son called the mark of "a true Marine. I can't think of a more honorable man that I'll ever know."
After the ceremony, Cabiness shook the hand of every Marine present.
The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines, more than any ship or unit. Frank Cabiness was among the 337 crew members who survived.
Everyone present at the ceremony received a flower to toss into the opening near the center of the memorial that looks down to the battleship below.
Copyright (c) Honolulu Star-Advertiser
